How to Find Your Dragon
by The Night Kitty
Summary: The combination of guilt and a series of misunderstandings results in Toothless believing Hiccup would be better off without him. So he makes the bad decision to leave Berk forever. Hiccup, however, will never give up until he reunites with his dragon and make things right between them so both can be happy again.
1. Prologue

**Welcome! To make the introduction short, I hope you like this story. I am a HUGE HTTYD fan and highly enjoy writing about it. I do want to say for those of you who read my other dragons story "Love is More Powerful Than Death" I want to thank you. I have been writing fan fiction for years about multiple shows and movies and that story very quickly became the most popular story I had ever written. Thank you!**

 **How to Find Your Dragon**

 **Prologue**

It had been one month since Toothless and Hiccup defeated Drago and the Bewilderbeast and both were still adjusting to their new leadership roles. Toothless was adapting as Alpha a bit easier and faster than his human best friend. Other dragons had always respected Toothless for being the smartest, fastest and one-of-a-kind Night Fury, so becoming their Alpha was not difficult for them to accept. The dragons of Berk would always bow to Toothless whenever they made eye contact or when they wished to speak with him.

Hiccup was proving to be a caring and intelligent chief who almost always knew right away how to solve a problem. His biggest issue was how much time he had to dedicate towards running the village. It made him feel guilty about having less alone time with Astrid but she was very understanding. Hiccup always made time to take an evening flight with Toothless every day which Astrid helped with. Whenever Hiccup wanted to spend time with Astrid, his mother Valka would temporarily take over until he was back. Managing time outside of leading was slowly becoming easier and easier.

When Stoick first told Hiccup he was to become chief, Hiccup was unhappy about it. His father's death was very painful but it did teach him more about protecting others rather than trying to make peace with enemies. Now Hiccup was adapting and happy, but still had the stabbing pain in his heart from Stoick's death.

Although Toothless was great at leading his kind, the Night Fury had a much bigger problem than being Alpha. Toothless was noticing that Hiccup was paying a lot less attention to him. The dragon was fully aware of Hiccup's new busy title, but he feared there was more to it than that. Lately the only time they would spend together was their daily evening flight, which he loved but Toothless and Hiccup used to be together almost at all times.

At first the dragon was not too concerned about it until an incident in the middle of the night two weeks ago. Both were in their room asleep in their beds, when Toothless' strong hearing picked up Hiccup talking in his sleep. Toothless knew Hiccup was dreaming because half his words were unrecognizable. As the minutes passed Hiccup was still asleep but became more and more distressed. When Hiccup screamed for his dad Toothless leaped to the side of Hiccup's bed and started to try and wake him.

When he nudged Hiccup's shoulder for the third time, his eyes snapped open to look at his dragon. Hiccup was still dazed from sleep and when he saw Toothless' eyes as slits from being nervous, the viking bolted up and fell off the other side of the bed fearfully trying to get away from him. By the time Hiccup hit the floor, he was fully awake but breathing heavily. Toothless cautiously peered over at him where Hiccup calmed down knowing he was in no danger. He saw the hurt in his dragon's eyes and had apologized to him many times saying that Toothless did nothing wrong.

It may of been just a bad nightmare for Hiccup, but to Toothless it was much worse. Seeing Hiccup afraid of him was as horrible to him as when he hatefully yelled at him for killing Stoick. Toothless had no memory under the Alpha's control so at the time, seeing Stoick dead was shocking and confusing. Hiccup's reaction told Toothless that it was his fault and it was a terrible burden to him. His best friend had told him after that day many times that he did not blame him at all. But after that nightmare, Toothless began to think otherwise. The Night Fury had nightmares of that day too, but it was mostly about the hatred in Hiccup's eyes. He feared that Hiccup did not truly forgive him for killing his father and never would. Actions often speak louder than words and Hiccup spending less time with him made him think he was avoiding him.

At one point shortly after the huge battle, Hiccup put a new tail fin on Toothless that the Night Fury could use himself. Hiccup of course knew Toothless would not want it and as soon as the dragon knew what it was he tried to break it on the side of a cabin. This tail fin was extra strong and black to help with camouflage. It still had the white symbol on it that matched Hiccup's flight suit. As Toothless tried unsuccessfully to get the fin off, Hiccup managed to calm him down. He said he wanted him to wear it in case they were separated. It would keep Toothless from being helpless. He also told him when he was on his back he could make an adjustment and control it himself like the other one. Toothless hesitantly agreed to keep it on not wanting to repeat falling out of the sky without him, but he did not like it. He never wanted to fly without Hiccup so he saw no use for it if they were safe.

* * *

One day a new group of wild dragons flew to Berk wanting to live on the peaceful island. As usual Hiccup, Astrid and their peers would care and train for the dragons first until they were tame enough to find a viking rider and friend. This process happened every couple months and usually only took a few days in the training arena. The gang's own dragons would help as well in order to keep the more wild dragons in check.

Hiccup and Toothless of course were always the best at getting quick results with Astrid and Stormfly almost as good. This group was only six dragons but Toothless was not as eager this time. Within the first day, he noticed that a wild dark purple Monstrous Nightmare started to really like Hiccup. The dragon always wanted to train with Hiccup and was affectionate towards him. Hiccup saw no problem with this and unfortunately did not know it was bothering his own dragon. Toothless was not obvious about his jealousy but would bare his teeth none the less when the Nightmare looked at him. Wild and rogue dragons sometimes took longer to respect an Alpha that was new to them.

On the third afternoon Hiccup went to get the new Nightmare some fish and Toothless confronted him. The Nightmare was much larger than him but Toothless was not fazed.

"Why are you always around him?" Toothless asked him in a hissing tone.

The Monstrous Nightmare tilted his head in confusion and replied. "Because I really like him. I am hoping that Hiccup will ride me and be my human."

Toothless roared at him but no one else in arena noticed. "Hiccup is MY best friend and human!"

The Nightmare was still new to Berk's customs so he said, "I know that, but why can't I be his dragon too?"

"No! That is not how it works! A human befriends you, names you and you and him become best friends with each other and no one else! When the training is over you will find another human and leave Hiccup alone."

The Nightmare was taken aback and then angry. He did not like the other vikings on Berk and wanted Hiccup. Despite Toothless being an Alpha he was still too feral to obey him and instead felt challenged. Right then Hiccup returned with a basket of fish to feed the bigger dragon.

He dumped the contents on the ground and said, "Here you go Shadowsear."

The newly named dragon smirked confidently at Toothless before eating the fish. Toothless gave a horrified screech like an eel was just thrown at his head. Hiccup instantly turned to Toothless and pet his nose. "Don't be upset Bud, I'm just giving him a temporary name until someone chooses him."

Toothless did not calm down and within seconds bolted out of the arena and took off. Hiccup got Astrid and Stormfly and they flew after him. The Deadly Nadder was a much slower flyer than a Night Fury so she had to rely on sight and smell to find him. Toothless had disappeared into the forest wanting to be alone. Stormfly followed his scent to the cove but could not locate him. Hiccup and Astrid dismounted and called for him but he was hiding in the water to keep his scent away.

Finally the two vikings had to give up but not before Hiccup yelled knowing his dragon could hear him. "Toothless please don't be mad. You have no reason to be jealous. You are my dragon and always will be. Come home soon."

He then joined Astrid and they flew back to Berk. Toothless stayed alone at the cove for hours after that. He knew Hiccup still cared about him, but he could not help but think the viking would be happier without him. He had done something unforgivable and despite not being in control, Toothless still blamed himself. He was there to be brainwashed and he fired the plasma blast. Toothless had also feared many times that things could have been even worse and he could of killed Hiccup. He remembered Hiccup being right by him when his mind left.

Toothless sighed and his ears drooped. He felt his new decision was the right one, but it was also the hardest thing he would ever have to do.

* * *

Toothless flew home late that night. He saw a candle still lit in Hiccup's room from him waiting for his dragon. He quietly landed on the roof and peered in their room through the skylight. Hiccup was still dressed but had fallen asleep at his desk. Toothless really wanted to nuzzle and be petted by Hiccup one more time but did not want to wake him. He cooed sadly and a tear fell from his eye. Dragons hardly ever cried but he did not care at the moment.

He glided to the ground and walked to the back of the cabin. Valka lived at Hiccup's home now but Cloudjumper was much too big. Because of this a sturdy perch was added to the house that extended over the back of the roof. This allowed the stormcutter to comfortably hang upside down from it to sleep. Valka would sometimes go outside with him because she had spent years sleeping in his wings.

"Cloudjumper," Toothless said up to him.

The larger dragon instantly opened his eyes and climbed down to the ground. He bowed to his Alpha before making eye contact and waited for a response.

"Help me remove my saddle," said Toothless.

Cloudjumper tilted his head far to the side in confusion. "But doesn't Hiccup need it?"

"Do it," Toothless said more sternly and Cloudjumper had to obey.

After a minute they managed to get all the riding gear off of him except for his new tail fin that was only attached to the end of his tail. Toothless tested it to make sure it still worked and it did. He turned back to his friend, "I'm leaving Cloudjumper."

Valka's dragon grunted in surprise before saying, "You mean forever?"

Toothless nodded and Cloudjumper no longer cared about being respectful. "Are you mad? This is your home! You have many friends and Hiccup needs you most of all!"

"He'll be upset at first, but will learn to move on. All the dragons like him so he will have no trouble finding a new one. I can never undo what I did to him and his family," Toothless explained.

"You are also the Alpha so what about…"

"You are the Alpha now Cloudjumper," Toothless stated.

Cloudjumper suddenly felt a new wave of power that he had never felt before but was unhappy at what it meant. "Don't leave Toothless, you will regret it."

Toothless looked sad but determined which told the other dragon his pleas were of no use. "But where will you go?" Cloudjumper asked.

"I don't want to tell you. Your human and many others will want to search for me and I plan on not being found."

Cloudjumper sighed sadly, "Everyone will really miss you including me."

Toothless nodded before Cloudjumper wrapped his large wings around him as a hug.

"Goodbye my friend, take good care of Hiccup and Berk," Toothless said.

They stared at each other in silence for a moment before Toothless took off into the night.

 **No! Toothless you're being a fool! Well that was the prologue and it will probably be longer than some of the chapters. And FYI I know about Hiccup's other dragon Sharpshot. But the little Terrible Terror was more of a pet and Toothless was never threatened by him.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Hiccup woke up early the next morning at his desk but decided to stay awake since he was determined to make things up with Toothless. He yawned and stretched his arms before turning around in his chair. He assumed Toothless had flown home after he fell asleep and was in his bed. The twenty year old gasped to see the stone bed empty. He rushed over to it and felt the surface. It was cold which told him it had not been lit on fire for a long time.

Tripping and nearly falling down the stairs, Hiccup ran to the ground floor and rushed outside. The sun was up and a few early riser vikings were seen in the nearby village. "Toothless!" Hiccup called. When he got no response, he cupped hands over his mouth and yelled his name louder. Valka ran outside and asked her son what was wrong.

"Toothless didn't come home last night! He flew to the cove because he was upset yesterday and I fell asleep waiting for him," Hiccup explained quickly starting to panic.

Val noticed him breathing faster so she caressed his face with her hand to calm him. "It's okay son, he wouldn't of gone far. I'll get Cloudjumper and we'll search the cove."

Hiccup nodded while trying to mentally convince himself that they will easily find him. Valka called her dragon and the mother and son quickly rode him to the cove. They got off him and loudly called for Toothless. Hiccup even tried his accurate Night Fury call. Cloudjumper watched them and realized why they were at this place. He decided to save their time and get the painful shock over with. He roared at Valka and she knew by the sound that he wanted to tell her something. She approached him and he motioned for her to get on his back.

"Hiccup! I think Cloudjumper knows something!" she called and climbed back on him.

Hiccup did not need to be told twice as he joined her. Cloudjumber landed back in front of their home which confused the vikings. They dismounted and Valka stared into her dragon's eyes trying to read his emotions. He showed sadness which greatly worried her. After a moment he turned away and walked to the back of the cabin. The two humans nervously stayed put waiting for him. The stormcutter returned carrying something in his mouth and dropped it in front of them. Valka gasped when she realized it was Toothless' saddle and turned to Hiccup. The viking chief was silent for a long moment as he stared down at the object that he was completely aware of what it was.

Valka expected Hiccup to have an explosion of emotion at any moment so she nervously placed her hand on his shoulder. Hiccup flinched as he was snapped back into reality and seemed to go into denial.

"The saddle must of been bothering him last night so he wanted a break from it. He's probably just having breakfast at the feeding station," Hiccup explained more to himself than to Val.

Then without another word he headed down the hill to the fish troughs. Unsure of what to do, his mother followed him. The two vikings went to Berk's dragon care center. It held tons of fish basins and a grooming station for the dragons. Hiccup usually fed Toothless his favorite fish at home but he would sometimes join the other dragons if he was hungry. Hiccup had started to jog when they were almost there and instantly looked around the whole area for the black dragon. Hiccup called for Toothless not caring at all about how it was getting nearby dragons and vikings' attention. Astrid was at the grooming station with Stormfly when she heard her boyfriend. Both her and her dragon stopped what they were doing and went over to him. They walked up behind him and got his attention.

"Hiccup are you…" she began but was cut off by a desperate Hiccup.

"Have you seen Toothless?" he asked her.

This worried Astrid since she was sure the Night Fury would of returned to Hiccup by now. "No I haven't. Do you smell him Stormfly?"

Deadly Nadders were known to have a good sense of smell. But she simply squawked and shook her head. Stormfly then suddenly raised her head interested in something behind the vikings. The other dragons did the same so Hiccup, Astrid and Valka turned around. Cloudjumper had just landed nearby and all the present dragons stepped towards him and bowed to their new Alpha. There was no doubt now, Toothless had left and was not coming back.

Both dragons and vikings nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard someone scream. "NO!"

They turned to see that someone was their chief. Hiccup became hysterical and shouting to himself and to the gods. He clutched his head and started to have a panic attack. Astrid bolted to him and grabbed his hands to try and calm him. Hiccup did not seem to even know someone was trying to help.

A lot of vikings and dragons crowded around wanting to know what was wrong. Seeing this as a problem, Valka and Gobber pushed through the crowd to Hiccup and Astrid. Gobber started clearing a path and loudly undermining the situation to the village. Valka got Hiccup to start walking with her as Astrid still held his hand.

They went to Gobber's forge where all the others were told to not worry and continue with their day. The large upgraded forge was a lot more quiet and deserted. Hiccup sat on a bench and put his head in his hands. Eret, Fishlegs, the twins and Snotlout were now present but Hiccup did not seem to care about anything around him. Valka filled them in on the situation so Hiccup would not be interrogated.

Astrid handed Hiccup a mug of water that he took and started to breath more normally. Everyone was silent not knowing what to say for awhile. When someone did speak up it was of course the loudmouth Snotlout.

"I don't get it. Why would Toothless leave? He has a great life here."

Annoyed, Astrid replied, "We don't _know_ Snotlout, that's what we need to figure out".

"Because I drove him away," Hiccup said softly.

Everyone looked at their chief and Eret spoke up. "That's ridiculous, haven't seen a viking and dragon closer than you two on this whole island."

Hiccup put down the water he did not drink and stood up. "He must think I blame him for killing my father. And I made stupid decisions like not spending enough time with him."

Hiccup had begun to pace around the forge and stare at random objects as he thought. Everyone was surprised by the sudden lack of emotion in his voice.

"Well that's clearly a mistake so we need to go after him and bring him back," Astrid said trying to sound confident.

"But no other dragon can fly as fast as Toothless," said Fishlegs.

Everyone glared at him and Tuffnut smacked him on the side of the head to shut him up.

That reality had already crossed Hiccup's mind, but someone saying it out loud made it even more real and sparked something within Hiccup. Right after Fishlegs said this, he stopped pacing with his back to everyone and his fists clenched. Then to everyone's surprise, he grabbed a nearby ax, yelled out and used it to smash a small wooden sculpture to splinters.

A lot of his friends gasped at this. No one had ever seen Hiccup swing a weapon-let alone use it to effectively destroy something. Everyone including Astrid was nervous to approach him as he breathed heavily and tossed the ax away.

"We are going to find him! He may be faster but he can't fly forever. I will find him it I have to go off the edge of the world!" Hiccup stated.

Everyone nodded before Hiccup started giving orders. "Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Eret, Astrid and I will be beginning the search in an hour, so start packing for a long trip. They agreed and went to gather supplies leaving Hiccup, Gobber and Val behind. The two older vikings tried to leave too but Hiccup stopped them. He told his mother he needed her to run the village while they where gone and with Cloudjumper the Alpha now he had to stay too. She reluctantly agreed before Hiccup addressed Gobber. He wanted Valka to have a good friend to help her if she needed it. He also pointed out that his dragon Grump would never want to make the journey. Gobber glanced over at his lazy Hotburple to see he was sleeping in the forge the entire time so he agreed as well.

As Gobber walked to the forge to get Hiccup some tools the chief turned back to Valka. His mother sighed sadly, "Be safe son, and don't be gone too long."

"I'm not coming back till I find him," Hiccup declared.

She nodded reluctantly before giving him a hug. When they pulled away, he asked her. "You know more about Night Furies. Do you have any idea where Toothless would go?"

"Well I've only heard stories from my grandfather that Night Furies lived far up North in caves of uncharted mountains. If he is trying to find other Night Furies he may go there. But Hiccup I really think he is the last of his kind."

"Thanks mom, I have to try I don't think Toothless knows that for sure." said Hiccup.

An hour later the gang flew away from Berk and did not know when they would return.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _The night Toothless left_

The Night Fury flew over the shores of Dragon Island. He had not been there since he and Hiccup killed the Red Death years ago. It was still just as erie and foggy, but was now completely deserted. Since all the dragons were not enslaved, they all left to either live on Berk or enjoy their freedom somewhere else. On the rocky beach was the burned bone remains of the horrible monster.

Toothless flew past the massive skeleton and into the volcano. The mountain no longer smoked and burned due to the lack of a huge fire breathing dragon living inside. The volcano was very dark but Toothless could see enough to know where he was going. He landed on a high ledge inside that was once his home. No other dragon ever tried to sleep or even land on the spot. The ledge was where Toothless had hatched and cared for by his parents. The three of them were the only Night Furies to ever live on the island.

When Toothless was still quite young his mother and father were killed by the Red Death for feeding their son before him. It was horrible for Toothless but he was still too young at the time to leave on his own. He had no choice but to continue living there but once he was old enough to fly he refused to steal food for his parents' killer. He was going to leave the island forever before the Red Death found out, but the other dragons begged him to stay. Feeding their master was so difficult that they often had to steal from vikings and needed Toothless' fire power and accuracy in raids. Not wanting to abandon them he agreed but still got away with never taking food. This went on for years until the day Hiccup shot him down and everything changed.

Toothless went to a corner of the ledge that was against the side of the mountain. When he found the small stone he was looking for he pushed it aside with his paw. Underneath was a single Night Fury scale. His mother had given her shed scale to him because it was shaped like a heart. He bent down and sniffed his precious gift one more time before pushing the stone back on top of it. He was not planning on returning to this place so he wanted closure.

He closed his eyes for a moment as he visited his limited memories of his parents. He remembered his father telling him that his kind came from caves up North. Toothless never had a chance to seek out other Night Furies until now and that was what he was planning to do. Most other humans still did not take kindly to dragons so if he wanted a new family he had to find them. Toothless opened his eyes and took one last look at the place he was born before flying out of the volcano.

* * *

 _The next morning_

Supplies were packed and hooked to every dragon. They had food and tools to gather more if they ran out. Stormfly was fitted with a saddle that was more comfortable for two riders since Hiccup refused to fly another dragon himself. Everyone on Berk was told to listen to Valka while their chief was gone.

The search team flew North over the larger islands of the archipelago and by sunset Hiccup ordered everyone to land in a forest clearing for the night. Once camp was set up Hiccup told everyone the plan. "In the morning we will split up and search for the entire day. Make sure you and your dragon know how to get back to this place and return at sunset. If we find nothing we will fly together the next morning to set up a new camp and search the new area after that."

Everyone nodded before Hiccup continued. "Look everywhere you find, caves, mountains, forests, anywhere. If you find any signs of Toothless or another Night Fury you will follow it and report to me at the end of the day."

Tuffnut then raised his hand, "Uhh does that include over seas?"

Hiccup sighed and said sarcastically, "I'm pretty sure that is part of _everywhere_. If Toothless damages his tail, he will be grounded the moment it happens."

"Great that's like twice as much area to search," Snotlout complained but was quiet once Hiccup glared at him.

Hours later almost everyone was asleep lying against their dragons. Hiccup and Astrid were against the sleeping Nadder and speaking quietly to each other.

"I never thought Toothless would want to leave me…Even when he was gone for days that one Snoggletog I assumed he would be back eventually," said Hiccup.

Astrid sighed, "I don't think he wanted to Hiccup. Maybe he thought it would be better for you."

A part of Hiccup agreed with her but he still did not like it. "How could he even think that? He knows how much I care about him and that I don't blame him for what happened with my dad."

"I know but maybe he wasn't entirely sure you did," said Astrid.

She mentally slapped herself after she said that since Hiccup was already blaming himself for his dragon leaving. So quickly she continued, " _But_ …we all know that is a mistake so once we find him you two can make things right."

Hiccup sighed, "Well we better get some sleep or we won't be alert for tomorrow."

Astrid kissed his cheek as a goodnight and the two went to sleep as well.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next day all the dragon riders split up in search. Hiccup had brought pieces of Toothless' saddle so the dragons could track his scent. At sunset everyone returned with nothing. This was discouraging since even Skullcrusher could not smell Toothless.

"How do we even know Toothless headed North?" Snotlout asked while everyone ate at the campfire that night.

"Toothless wanted to find other Night Furies as much as I do. There are legends that they lived in the North where no humans would bother them," Hiccup explained.

"So that's why no one ever sees a Night Fury," said Eret.

"If that's true then why did Toothless live on Dragon Island and join in raiding Berk?" Fishlegs asked.

Tuffnut rolled eyes thinking he was stating the obvious. "Uh Berk is North. It's freezing and snows all the time."

"I meant about staying away from humans. If Night Furies like to isolate themselves, then attacking them with other dragons does not make sense," Fishlegs replied.

"Well if you remember, the dragons only raided us because they had to feed their Red Death Queen. It was controlling them and they had no choice," Astrid added.

"So if Toothless was never enslaved by the Red Death, he probably would of lived with other Night Furies far from Berk," Hiccup concluded. He did not really like thinking how the only reason he met Toothless was for his dragon to live for years being enslaved before he shot him down.

"Do you guys think there really is other Night Furies? If so I want one!," said Ruffnut.

"Yeah then I wouldn't have to share a dragon," said Tuffnut.

Barf and Belch who were lying nearby sat up and both head butted their riders.

"Although you guys really understand the art of a good head butting," Tuffnut said to their Zippleback.

"Honestly, I don't know if there are other Night Furies. If not then Toothless will be all alone and that is just another reason to find him," Hiccup said determinedly.

"What if this isn't Toothless' plan at all? Maybe he just needed a little vacation from you and had Cloudjumper fill in till he got back. You can be pretty demanding," Shotlout said to Hiccup.

Normally everyone would just brush Snotlout's comments off as just being annoying and rude, including Hiccup. But Hiccup was already extremely distressed without Toothless so he did not have the patience for him to question his every decision. He had seen Spitelout question his father constantly and it was apparently hereditary. Hiccup stood up and walked over to him with his fists clenched. Snotlout stood up too to face him. "Don't insult me and question my plans. I put up with that for years when I was the dragon rider leader, but I am your chief now too. I know my dragon more than anyone and you are here to help me. Not keep us from making the right decisions," Hiccup said sternly and pointed his finger on his chest.

Hiccup then walked away before saying over his shoulder to everyone, "Get some rest, we are flying to a new basecamp in the morning."

Hookfang snorted some smoke in Hiccup's direction before Snotlout said to him. "I know Fangster, he needs to lighten up."

* * *

 _Two Weeks Later_

The dragon riders sat around the fire at their temporary campsite in silence. No one had complained or questioned their leader since the incident with Snotlout but it was quite obvious no one was in high spirits. That was no comparison to how Hiccup was feeling. Every night he became very frustrated when everyone reported to have no leads. He kept wondering how they have still not even had a dragon pick up a trace of Toothless' scent. To make matters worse it had rained all day yesterday which made tracking even more difficult.

For the last several nights Hiccup kept isolating himself from the group and only spoke to them when he had new plans. He was currently sitting against a tree in the dark away from the group carving something out of some wood.

"I'm worried about him. He keeps getting more distant and we have made no progress for him," Astrid said out loud.

"Well what do expect? He lost his dragon and we're all here with ours," Ruffnut pointed out.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so hard for him if some of us weren't so obvious about that!" Tuffnut snapped at Fishlegs.

The larger viking was currently hugging Meatlug while she was wagging her tail and licking his face. He let go and they both looked guilty.

Stormfly head butted Astrid's arm so she rubbed her nose and sighed, "I know it's hard for him, so we need to find Toothless to make things better. Ugh! Why haven't we found any clues!"

"Yeah isn't Skullcrusher supposed to be really good at that?" Ruffnut asked Eret before making a flirtatious wink when they made eye contact.

"He is but with Toothless being way faster, he could be only leaving a small trail that would fade away shortly after," said Eret.

Skullcrusher made a sad grunt at not being more helpful.

"I say we give this search a few more days before we band together and tell Hiccup we are all flying home," said Snotlout.

Fishlegs who was sitting across from him suddenly went wide-eyed at him. Snotlout raised an eyebrow at him and said, "What? We're all thinking it."

It was then that he realized that Fishlegs was actually looking behind him. Snotlout turned around to a very angry Hiccup standing a few feet behind him.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Everyone stared nervously at Hiccup. They had not seen him look this angry very often in all the time they knew him. Snotlout stood up to face the taller viking and tried to keep a tough attitude. Before Snotlout could say anything Hiccup's expression suddenly went from furious to somewhat relaxed.

"Oh I'm sorry Snotlout, are you getting tired of helping me?" he asked in a sarcastic-calm voice.

Everyone was very unsure about Hiccup's response. They were all used to his frequent sarcasm but they expected him to start yelling so having no clue what was going to happen was just as unnerving.

"Uhh…I was just," Snotlout started before Hiccup raised his hand to silence him.

"Is anyone else ready to go home?" Hiccup said loudly to address the whole group at the campfire.

No one said a word so Hiccup gave a small laugh that sounded somewhat insane. He turned away from them with his hands behind his back. Astrid was really getting nervous now. Her boyfriend was reminding her of Dagur the Deranged. With his back still to them Hiccup continued, "I guess I forgot how self-centered people can be." He turned back to them and threw the small dagger and wood he was holding into the woods.

"You all have your dragons, soooo everything is fine right?"

Fishlegs got a moment of courage and said, "Hiccup of course we want to help you! I can't imagine being without my Meatlug. None of us deserve to loose our best friends."

Everyone nodded in agreement and the dragons growled approvingly. Hiccup seamed to calm down a little but unfortunately only until Snotlout decided to say something stupid again. "Yeah yeah we all love dragons. Hiccup why can't you just get a new one? Toothless obviously does not want-"

Snotlout could not finish his sentence before he found himself on the ground from being punched in the face by Hiccup. Astrid and few other riders had a hand on their face in disbelief that Snotlout had said that.

Hiccup panted in anger while he stood in a fighting stance expecting Snotlout to stand up and fight. Even if the other viking wanted to, he was still dazed on the ground from the sudden attack.

"Are you forgetting about _everything_ Toothless has done for us?" Hiccup asked Snotlout raising his voice with each word.

Snotlout was silent and crawled backwards so he could sit against a log. Hiccup continued, but this time addressed the whole audience. "Thanks to him we made peace between vikings and dragons. He showed me the truth about them and if it wasn't for him…ALL of you would not have your dragons. You would still want to mindlessly kill them!"

No one said anything, because everything Hiccup said was entirely true. They nervously avoided eye contact with him. There was a long awkward silence before Snotlout said quietly "I'm sorry."

Now the normal-happy Hiccup with Toothless by his side would of forgiven Snotlout and just moved on, but not this Hiccup. He glared over at Snotlout and said, "Leave."

Snotlout looked at him confused, "What?"

"You heard me. Leave! You obviously don't want to be here so get on your dragon and go home," Hiccup said and pointed over at Hookfang.

Astrid did not like that idea. They needed all the help they could get. "I don't think that's the best solution."

Snotlout looked at her and then back at Hiccup who had not moved a muscle. "No I'll go, I can see I'm not wanted," Snotlout said trying to sound confident and casual.

He grabbed his bag of supplies, mounted his Monstrous Nightmare and flew into the night without another word.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Toothless flew North always staying near large mountains. If he was going to find other Night Furies, he needed to search all the caves. He had lost count of how many caves he had checked so far. It had been a while since he left and he still found nothing. Even if he did find an inhabited cave, it was never home to a Night Fury and was often another species of dragon that were not very welcoming to visitors.

The snow was currently falling very hard making it almost impossible to see. Winter was coming for the archipelagos very soon but had already arrived where Toothless was. The cold was getting to him now so he needed to take a break. He may be a fire breather but was still a cold-blooded reptile and could only handle so much. Using his echo screech to find solid objects, Toothless found a ledge on the side of a mountain that had enough overpass to block a lot of the snow. He landed on the ledge and was for once happy to find no traces of another dragon.

After lighting the ground and lying down Toothless started to warm up. The dragon stared out onto the endless snow and started to think about Hiccup. He usually tried to avoid this to keep himself from becoming sad but it was always hard during down time. He wondered how his former rider was doing back on Berk. He hoped he was doing fine and being a great chief to his people. He worried at first that Hiccup would be very upset and maybe even try and look for him, but hopefully the viking realized he would never find him and go back to his life. If all was well he would probably have a new dragon (preferably not that smug Monstrous Nightmare) and not have the constant reminder that his dragon had killed his father.

Although this is was what he wanted for Hiccup, Toothless still really missed him. A part of him kept wishing he would hear Hiccup in the distance calling for him. He had never been this alone in his entire life. He was either going on adventures with his friends or at least with other dragons serving the giant beast. He really hoped he would find other Night Furies soon, he was not exactly enjoying this complete isolation. He thought eventually if he still found nothing he would find a pack of other dragons that may take him in as one of their own.

Toothless sighed and wrapped his tail around himself. Something white caught his eye and he looked at his tail fins. Both were black but the artificial one still had the symbol on it that bonded him with Hiccup. He groaned sadly and decided to try and sleep so he could stop feeling so depressed.

* * *

It had been three weeks since Snotlout went home and the search party was really no longer a real team. Throughout those weeks the group became smaller and smaller. No one insulted Hiccup and then were attacked like Snotlout was, but they would try and kindly convince Hiccup to give up. Winter was setting in and it was getting harder and harder to stay warm, fed and confident. The twins were the first to try this and Hiccup did not make them leave but after their attempt he implied he no longer wanted them there so they went home shortly afterwards. Next was Eret who tried to tell Hiccup that he was now only endangering their lives by continuing. Mother Nature was becoming more and more harsh towards them. Finally there was Fishlegs who actually begged Hiccup to at least come back until the end of winter then search again, but the pleas were no use. So he and Meatlug left but not before Fishlegs privately told Astrid to take care of him and herself and try to get Hiccup to change his mind.

Now the team consisted of Hiccup, Astrid and Stormfly and it had been a few days since Fishlegs had departed. Astrid never complained but she was getting more and more worried about Hiccup. Survival was not the only issue for them anymore, she feared that Hiccup was loosing his mind.

Hiccup hardly ever talked to her other than to tell her where to steer Stormfly and he often seemed to not be aware of his surroundings due to him constantly staring off into space. It was like his soul was not completely present and never will be until he found his dragon.

At this point Astrid was pretty angry with Toothless. The stupid dragon caused all this and she still felt that whatever issues Toothless had he could of worked them out with Hiccup instead of leaving and completely destroying him.

There were times when Hiccup would think he saw Toothless but would end up being a pile of boulders in the shadows or a deer heard walking in the woods. Those were the only moments when Astrid saw him truly excited or at least upbeat, that is until the false alarm was confirmed.

The three of them were far from any ocean which made Astrid suspect they were not even on an island anymore. They never encountered any other people which she figured was because of how cold it was. It was rare that they encountered an area that was not covered in snow. Winter was certainly present and finding food was hard. She thanked the gods countless times for Stormfly who had been hunting most of their food. Astrid was so grateful for her Nadder's help that she always let her dragon eat first and because she felt bad that Stormfly had to give up fish.

Astrid was currently asleep wrapped in several blankets in their temporary tent when she was awakened by Hiccup.

"Let's get going," he said to her and left the tent.

Astrid peered outside and sighed to see that it was still dark. But this was not the first time Hiccup wanted to begin their search before dawn. She knew she needed to stop this journey and soon. If not, they could starve or freeze to death. The problem was she did not want to talk to him about it. She had witnessed how that worked out with all their friends. Because of this Astrid was waiting for something to change, something that she could use as a new reason to return to Berk. Searching took way longer than traveling so flying home would take less time.

Astrid crawled out of the tent and helped Hiccup pack it up. She was at least somewhat happy that it was not snowing at the moment. The two then took off on Stormfly with Astrid driving. When it was dark they had to let the Nadder rely on her good hearing and smell since visibility was very limited. They flew just above the treetops in silence before Stormfly squawked in alert. Astrid was about to ask her dragon what was wrong when the two vikings heard an erie whispering.

Trees from behind them started to fall over before something burst from the ground below and roared. Although Hiccup and Astrid could not see it, they knew it was a Whispering Death and he did not sound too happy about them being in his territory.

Astrid made Stormfly fly higher to miss the rings of fire blasted at them. The fire supplied some light for a short time for them to see the Whispering Death gaining on them.

"Hang on Babe!" Astrid yelled as they tried to loose the other dragon. Hiccup wrapped his arms around her since he had no handles. They flew fast and with sharp turns but were still being chased.

Suddenly Stormfly heard the faint whistling of spines shooting towards them. Reacting fast the Deadly Nadder did a barrel roll to dodge them. Unfortunately the two vikings did not hear the incoming spikes and did not know she was going to do that. In the moment they were upside down Hiccup lost hold of Astrid and fell off. The shift in weight threw the dragon off balance and jerked hard to stay airborne. This made Astrid fall too but did not fall far before her dragon caught her in her claws.

Thinking fast Astrid told Stormfly to throw her back on the saddle. Once she landed back on her seat she heard a roar telling her the Whispering Death did not give up. Astrid took out her ax and wrapped a blanket from her bag around the head. Reaching out so Stormfly could light it, the viking now had a large burning torch. She flew her dragon back towards the aggressive dragon and waved the bright fire in his face. Whispering Deaths hated light so he was not too happy about this and screeched before flying away.

Astrid let out a breath of relief and addressed her other problem.

"Hiccup? HICCUP!" she yelled for him but heard nothing.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Half an hour had passed since Hiccup was separated from Astrid and her dragon. Her temporary torch had burned out but she knew to light another one if the Whispering Death came back. Dawn was approaching which provided enough light for Astrid to not be flying blind. She had still not found Hiccup which was really scaring her. She had called and called for him but got no answer.

When he had fallen, neither she nor Stormfly was able to save him but luckily he had not fallen from a fatal height. Astrid could not understand why they could not find him. It would be foolish for him to wander on foot and possibly get farther away from them.

Suddenly she noticed something ahead. In the large cluster of perfect evergreens covered in snow there was one that had the top snapped and was hanging partially still connected to the trunk. Getting closer Astrid saw another one damaged next to it and another next to that. They flew over the line and Astrid carefully landed Stormfly to the snowy ground. She looked up and followed the damaged pines and noticed the damaged area of the tree was getting lower to the ground. Two pines growing close together had an opening between them that was created by something. She parted through the branches with her dragon following and gasped at what she saw on the other side.

Hiccup was lying on his side several yards ahead motionless in the snow. She ran over to him and tried to wake him. He did not so her trembling hands checked his pulse. She sighed with partial relief to find he had one. The sun was rising and providing some more light so Astrid could conclude what had happened. When he fell Hiccup must of activated his flight suit to glide to the ground hence the fabric folds hanging loosely from his arms. This made for a slower landing but he did not have anyone to protect him from the trees.

Astrid pushed Hiccup over so he was lying on his back and she inhaled sharply. Hiccup's left side had a gash below his arm but above his waist. The cut ripped right through his armor and was a few inches long. She looked over to see blood coating the snow from where she had moved him.

Trying not to panic Astrid looked around and saw a boulder that had a somewhat flat and sloped top. Grabbing Hiccup under his arms she started to drag him over to it to get him out of the snow. Stormfly helped by going over to the boulder and very briefly fire blasting it so it would be warm. Astrid thanked her while she still worked on getting Hiccup on it. She laid him down so his head was higher up and took and closer look at his injury. He was still bleeding and the cut was deep enough to need stitches.

Astrid turned to Stormfly and yanked one of her bags off the saddle. Rummaging through it she found what she needed; a bowl, a cloth, a small dagger, a needle and thread and a vile medicine. She filled the bowl with clean snow and put it in from of her dragon.

"Stromfly, make this hot water," she asked.

Stormfly nodded and gave a quick fire blast to the bowl and snow. A Deadly Nadder may have some of the hottest fire, but they had been training so the dragon could do controlled blasts without always destroying the target. The training payed off when Astrid now had a bowl of steaming water. Taking the cloth she soaked with with water and picked up the dagger. She carefully cut away the bloody armor around the gash and applied the cloth to stop the bleeding. She looked up at Hiccup's face to see he was still unconscious. Astrid was now glad for this since it would a lot harder to do the next part if she was causing him pain. Once she was sure his bleeding had slowed down, Astrid cleaned the needle and thread in the hot water and removed the cloth. She took a deep breath and started to stitch up the wound.

Once she was done and cleaned up Astrid took the vile of green medicine and rubbed it over the area to help with pain and quicker healing. Finally Astrid wrapped a white bandage cloth around the wound and his middle to properly protect it.

Stormfly peered over Astrid's shoulder worried so the viking hugged her head with her arm. "He'll be okay girl, I just need your help setting up camp for him."

* * *

Toothless stood at the edge of a cliff sniffing the air. It was snowing but not enough to be considered a blizzard. He had not found a trace of another Night Fury and was beginning to loose hope. Even if he did not pick up the scent of another Night Fury he figured that if one was ever nearby that it could find him instead.

By now returning to Berk had crossed his mind many times. He was very lonely but he figured it would be bad of him to go back by now. Cloudjumper would not want to give back his Alpha title which would cause problems and the biggest issue would be Hiccup. His friend would have moved on by now and would probably be angry at him for coming back. Toothless knew he could not handle Hiccup rejecting him which was a big reason why he left in the first place.

Toothless laid down and whined sadly. He thought leaving would be better for everyone but it was quite obvious this was not the case for himself. If he returned to Berk he assumed to find his rider with a new dragon and would not want to take back the dragon who killed his father.

He started to think about forgiveness and something new entered his mind. He forgave Hiccup for hurting his tail because it meant he gained the best friend in the world. And Hiccup forgave Toothless for biting his leg because it meant he saved his life. Hiccup and Toothless both knew Stoick's death was an accident. He remembered Hiccup telling him once that he died to save him. Because of that Hiccup was still alive which meant everything to Toothless.

Toothless raised his head and perked up his ears in realization. And after that Hiccup pursued Toothless and freed him from Drago and the bad Alpha. If Hiccup truly hated Toothless for the accident, then he would not have done that. What happened was a tragic but it resulted in him defeating the Alpha and restoring peace. All the events led towards a great new era on Berk. Of course Hiccup was sad for loosing his father, but he always tried to prove to Toothless that they were still the best of friends.

Toothless wanted blast himself in the face for not realizing this sooner. He and Hiccup were a team and he could not just leave him to try and fix things. It would be difficult but he now planned on returning home and try everything necessary to get Hiccup to forgive him.

Toothess stood up with a new wave of confidence. He was going home and nothing was going to stop him. As the Night Fury happily dived from the cliff he blasted a few times at the mountainside with excitement. Suddenly he heard an angry squawk. Toothless opened his wings and flapped them to hover and listened for the sound again. A blur of colors shot past him and Toothless now saw three angry Deadly Nadders flapping in front of him.

"You blasted our nest!" the lavender female Nadder screeched.

"I'm sorry it was an accident," said Toothless and tried to fly away from them.

His flight path was then blocked by the other two Nadders so Toothless growled at them.

"Get out of my way and I'll leave!" Toothless yelled.

"No! You can't just destroy our home and then get away!" said the green Nadder.

Then the blue Nadder squawked towards the mountain and received a much louder reply. A Titanwing Deadly Nadder emerged from the cave and joined to others. He was about a half a size bigger than the other adult Nadders with maroon and black scales. The four dragons circled around Toothless yelling threats to him. Toothless no longer carried the power of an Alpha so to them, he was just a troublemaking dragon. The Night Fury did not want to fight them. He needed to hurry home and did not want to get hurt or hurt them.

He fired a plasma blast purposely narrowly missing the Titan Nadder and used the quick distraction to fly upwards and then speed away. The Nadder's flew after him but Toothless was faster and they could quickly see that. The Titan yelled an order to the other Nadders and they split up. Toothless turned his head around to see them disperse and thought they were giving up. Suddenly a whistle of spin shots flew past his head making him stop flying forward and dodge. He then heard a dragon below him and saw one of them breath fire up at him. Toothless flew upwards to miss the flames but did not get far before a new set of flying spines came towards him. Still avoiding the fire, Toothless had no time to react before a dozen Nadder spikes hit him in the back. Toothless roared in pain and felt that one had jammed up his tail fin. Almost instantly he started to plummet but had enough time to twist around and fire at the approaching ground to blast away the trees. He collided with the burned ground hard and was very dazed. He shook his head to clear it and slowly stood up. Seconds later the four Nadders landed in front of him. The Titanwing stepped forward and started to inhale for a fire blast. Toothless fired into its gas filed mouth making it fall to the ground instantly. The shot did not kill it but was definitely enough to scare it. He stood up and gagged before fleeing as the others followed.

Now that the danger was gone Toothless had a chance to look over his injuries. He turned around to see spines sticking out from his shoulders to the end of his tail but none pierced his wings. He pulled his tail around and started to carefully remove the spines he could reach with his teeth. This fixed his tail and got rid of a couple but there were still half a dozen in his back. He started to feel dizzy and remembered that Nadder spines are poisonous. He started to lick his wounds on his tail to try and fight the dizziness but it got worse.

It was not long before he laid on his side and fell unconscious.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Hiccup opened his eyes to see the ceiling of their tent. His head was pounding and he felt a dull aching all over. He tried to sit up but only made it half way before he gasped in pain and clutched his side. Feeling the bandage, Hiccup looked over to see that it was wrapped around his middle with a small blood stain showing through.

Just then Astrid started to crawl into the small tent after hearing him. She sat across from him and started to push him back to lying down.

"Don't move too much, you'll break your stitches," she told him.

He listened but not without trying to hide his pained expressions. "I don't think your flight suit is such a great idea solo," Astrid joked trying to lighten the mood.

"How long was I out?" he asked her.

"Well you fell this morning and it was sunset about an hour ago," she replied.

Hiccup sighed frustrated, "Great I wasted a whole day."

Astrid did not like the sound of that comment but decided not to address it. "I should have enough medicine for you for the trip home. It will help with the pain and-"

Hiccup sat up quickly flinching and interrupted her, "We're not going home Astrid, we haven't found Toothless."

"Hiccup," Astrid said half angry and half exasperated.

Hiccup gave her a serious look that wordlessly told her he was not kidding. As he tried grunting to climb out of the tent, Astrid decided she could no longer be corporative. Hiccup barely had his head out of the tent before something grabbed his medal foot and yanked him back inside. He yelped and was rolled over to be looking up at a very angry Astrid.

"Hiccup, I have been very supportive and helpful through all this but I can't keep my mouth shut any longer!" she yelled.

Stormfly heard her rider yelling and peaked her head in the tent before leaping backwards out to avoid her rage.

Hiccup was about to say something but she did not let him this time. "We have been out here for over a month and have not found a trace of Toothless! He does not want to be found. In the mean time we are flying to the coldest and most dangerous corner of the world. Toothless made the stupid decision to leave and I am not letting you, me or Stormfly die because of it!"

When Astrid became silent Hiccup was quiet too for a long moment. Finally he said quietly, "I'm sorry Astrid… I'm sorry I dragged you and everyone else into this. But I have to find him… I'll never be able to live with myself if it ends like this. I have to fix this or else life will never be the same for me."

Astrid started to calm down. "Hiccup."

"I want you and Stormfly to go home, I won't let you die because of me," he said.

Astrid sighed, "You're hurt you muttonhead. And even if you were healthy and had a dragon to fly I would not let you do that."

Hiccup sat up the best he could and kissed her passionately. When they pulled away he said, "Thank you for all your help Astrid. Just please go home. When I find Toothless I will fly with him back."

Astrid saw tears falling from his eyes and felt her own forming. "Hiccup please just give up for now. I _promise_ we'll look again in the Spring. For however long it takes."

Hiccup shook his head slowly, "I can't…I just can't. There are so many things that could happen. What if Toothless gets hurt or breaks his tail?"

The couple was silent for a few minutes as they both stared at the ground. Finally Astrid spoke, "Three days."

Hiccup made eye contact, "What?"

"I will help you for three more days. And if we don't find him by then I swear to the gods we are heading back even if I have to tie you to my saddle."

Astrid saw Hiccup give a much overdue smile before kissing her, "Thank you."

Astrid smiled back before becoming serious again. "I mean it Hiccup. Three days."

"Okay but if you try to fly me back early I will jump off Strormfly," Hiccup replied.

Astrid gave a light hearted sigh before punching him in the arm. "Deal, now get some rest, we are not flying in the dark again."

* * *

The search next morning did not start until sunrise and Hiccup was very determined. His injury was extremely painful and was made worse by walking. 'It had to be the same side as my bad leg,' he kept thinking. Hiccup tried his best not to show it but that failed when he broke his stitches trying to climb onto Stormfly's back which could not be ignored. After Astrid cleaned him up with medicine and new stitches, he was more careful this time to mount the dragon before they took off.

Hiccup was determined to not show how much pain he was in to Astrid. He did not want her to try and take him back to Berk early. Whenever the pain was unbearable Hiccup would try and apply the medicine himself to keep from informing his girlfriend. He could not however give himself new stitches and as time progressed, they needed to replaced a few more times.

On the afternoon of the third day they were flying and Astrid felt something wet on her hip. She looked down to see blood and was about to yell at Hiccup for not telling her sooner. But when she turned her head she saw that Hiccup had passed out with his head resting on her shoulder. It was lightly snowing so Astrid landed Stormfly in a thick covering of trees to help him.

Hiccup looked paler than usual which was probably from the frequent loss of blood. He was still out when she stitched him up again and was shocked to find they were out of medicine. This was very bad, they still needed to go home and without the medicine, Hiccup would be in much more pain and at a greater risk of a life threatening infection. Sunset was approaching and she was dreading the talk she would have to have with him when he woke up.

Hiccup woke up over an hour later in the tent and told Astrid he was not happy about them not flying at the moment. Astrid was inside the tent as well since it was now snowing harder and the wind was picking up.

"Look I wan't going to continue with you unconscious and bleeding behind me. Besides I needed to send Stormfly to hunt, we haven't eaten in awhile," Astrid explained firmly.

Hiccup was very aware it was getting late on the last day of their deal and did not want to waste time. "Well is she coming back soon?" he asked.

Before Astrid could answer she heard her dragon squawking outside. She climbed out first before giving Hiccup a hand to do the same. They were surprised to see that the Deadly Nadder did not have any hunted animal. She always brought back food no matter how long it took.

Stormfly continued to squawk with anxiety and stomp on the ground which told the vikings she came back for a reason.

"What is it girl?" Astrid asked.

The dragon squawked again before kneeling down and looking at her back. Both vikings climbed on her back and she took off before they were even situated. With all the snow and wind it was difficult to see where they were going but Stormfly seemed to know so they trusted her.

Several minutes later they opened their eyes to see that they had landed in a clearing of trees. This clearing was different than normal. The partially burned trees nearby indicated that this was not natural. The both climbed down and Stormfly ran over to something. They followed her and Astrid gasped. Half covered with snow was the unmistakable form of Toothless lying motionless on the ground.


	9. Chapter 8

**Hi, welcome back. If you like HTTYD, then there is a good chance you like Lilo and Stitch too. I just posted a new story called _How to Train Your Experiment_ and you should check it out. It is an alternate universe of Lilo and Stitch where the plot is more like HTTYD but with L &S characters.**

 **Chapter 8**

Ignoring the severe pain, Hiccup instantly kneeled down at the side of Toothless' head. He brushed off the loose snow on his head and shoulders. "Toothless?" Bud?" he managed to say.

Toothless did not move so Hiccup scratched him behind his ears. The Night Fury still did not move and the gesture would normally get a response even if he was asleep. Hiccup did not see signs of breathing and a dragon's scales were too thick to check for a heartbeat.

Hiccup rubbed Toothless' head hard but the only movements were from the viking's force. "Come on Bud, i-it's me wake up," Hiccup said suddenly finding it harder to breath or speak.

Meanwhile Astrid was getting the snow off the rest of Toothless when she saw the protruding Deadly Nadder spines in the dragon's back. "Hiccup," she whispered.

Hiccup turned to her to see what she was looking at. Both knew that Nadder spikes were poisonous.

"No…NO!" Hiccup screamed as it sunk in and he turned back to his dragon.

"Toothless please! It can't e-end like this!" Hiccup yelled and shook Toothless' head some more.

After a minute Hiccup started sobbing and buried his face in Toothless' neck. Astrid had removed the spines and knew she needed to get Hiccup to calm down. Trying to keep her own tears in control, she walked up behind Hiccup and tried to pull him by his arm away from his dead best friend.

She did not get far before Hiccup yanked out of her hold and yelled in protest.

He kneeled back down and hugged Toothless' neck. "I'm so s-sorry Bud. This is all my fault!"

Astrid saw that Hiccup was bleeding again and said, "H-hiccup we have to walk away. He's gone and we did everything we could."

Still holding Toothless, Hiccup cried, "I made him want to leave. I could have stopped this!"

Stormfly made squawking noises behind them that sounded like sobs. She hated to know that it was her own kind that killed her dear friend. Astrid needed to get Hiccup away from the horrible scene and tend to his wound. Unfortunately she could see that could not happen without her hurting him even more. She would have to wait until he passed out from bleeding again to help. So she knelt down beside her boyfriend and held him as they both cried.

This sad scene went on for ten minutes before they were able to at least calm down enough to breath normally. Hiccup laid his head down on Toothless' and tried to not think about what was happening.

He felt something move under his head and thought it was Astrid's hand. When it happened again he sat up to see her hands were not near him. He sighed thinking he was imaging things until he saw Toothless' ear twitch slightly. Hiccup's heart and breathing stopped for a second as he stared at the dragon's ear. When the other ear twitched, Hiccup gasped and mentally prayed to every god he was not going crazy. Astrid looked up at Hiccup and was about to question his reaction when Hiccup scratched behind Toothless' ear again.

It was Astrid's turn to be shocked when she heard a quiet purring. "Is he…?" she managed to say.

The Night Fury snorted and opened his eyes. He gave a confused grumble and Hiccup was in shock. After a moment Toothless found the strength to lift his head and was very surprised to see Hiccup sitting right in front of him. He cooed sadly and turned away expecting Hiccup to be furious with him and yell.

Instead he was surprised again to find Hiccup hugging his neck and sobbing out of joy. Toothless purred happily and leaned into the hug.

Astrid watched a moment she never thought she would see again. It turned out Nadder spikes were not strong enough to kill a dragon. It just put him in a small coma and the cold weather slowed his breathing and kept the poor reptile asleep. The body heat from the two loving vikings was enough to wake him up.

When Hiccup finally released the hug he made eye contact with his dragon. "I'm so sorry Toothless. Please don't ever leave me again. I will always love you."

Toothless cooed happily and then lowered his head knowing he was wrong as well. "Whatever problems we face. We handle them together," Hiccup continued.

Toothless nodded in agreement and Hiccup reached over to pet his head. Toothless then noticed he could smell blood and saw Hiccup flinch from using his left arm. The dragon looked down and saw a bloody bandage wrapped around his rider. He instantly started to carefully rip the bandage off before licking the wound.

"Toothless don't! It could get infected," Astrid exclaimed but Hiccup stopped her.

"Night Fury saliva has healing properties," He told her.

The wound started to hurt less than ever, even less than when he applied medicine to it. Astrid got a clean bandage and stitches and finished to job. Then she was able to pet Toothless, "He's right Toothless, don't ever leave again. I might not be able to keep him alive searching for you next time."

Toothless gave her an apologetic look that Astrid could not help but smile at.

* * *

The next day was dedicated to keeping the two dragons and vikings fed, hydrated and warm. Toothless was feeling a lot better by nightfall and it was not necessary to say out loud that they were all ready to head home.

The departure was planned for the next morning so Hiccup pulled Astrid aside while the dragons happily chatted. Astrid as going to say something but was instead kissed passionately by Hiccup. They only pulled away when they had to breath and Hiccup said, "Thank you Astrid. You are so amazing."

They stared lovingly at each other before Astrid said, "Well it takes a pretty amazing person to search the world for their best friend."

They each wrapped an arm around the other's middle and looked over at their dragons. Astrid sighed at what she was about to say. "Do you think Toothless will ever want to leave again?"

Without hesitation Hiccup said, "No. Everyone makes mistakes, and I think we both learned from this."

* * *

It took a week to fly home and both Hiccup and Toothless were overjoyed to be back in the skies together. Hiccup's wound was healing much better now making the trip even easier. When they reached the skies of Berk the whole island was overjoyed to hear the roar of a Night Fury. When the four landed they were instantly swarmed by the village of vikings and dragons. Valka and Gobber ran to through the crowd and Hiccup was hugged by his mother and patted on the shoulder in congratulations by the blacksmith.

Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Eret approached their chief and tried to apologize for prematurely leaving. Hiccup did not let them and insisted it was his fault and not theirs. Cloudjumper was more than happy to give the Alpha status back to Toothless as long as he promised him he would not resign again.

Hiccup was more careful in addressing Toothless' feelings towards killing Stoick. He made sure to pay more attention to him and always talk to his dragon whenever Toothless was feeling down.

Toothless always made himself remember a great memory with Hiccup whenever he was feeling sad which would easily overpower his guilt. Even if Hiccup was busy, he would know that it would not be long before his best friend returned to him. He may not of found other Night Furies, but his family was on Berk and that was where he would stay.

 **THE END**

 **Sorry if I made you real sad at the beginning. I wanted to make it not instantly a wonderful reunion. Well thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed my story.**


End file.
